Kaffee & Kuchen

In Germany at 4pm there is Kaffee und Kuchen Zeit - or coffee and cake time. It's a chance to sit and chat with friends while drinking coffee and nibbling something delicious. I hope that is what this blog will be. A chance to share some recipes, kick back, and enjoy.

Monday, October 15, 2012

I had kind of lost the inspiration to
post here for a while.I felt that I had
run out of fun stories, or anything meaningful to say.

Perhaps that is slowly coming back.

So instead I wanted to share with you a
montage of photos taken by a friend of mine (Thank you Leila!) a few weekends ago.When I saw all of these, I thought I had just
participated in one of those super-posh food magazine weekends.You know what I mean, when you look through
food magazine articles about some fabulous get-together that super wealthy and
exclusive people have all while trying to appear as casual as humanly possible.

I went to Rockport, Mass. to visit some
friends, and while I was there, I put them to work.We cut, cored and peeled 2 full pecks of
apples, which in lay-speak is approximately a “sh*t-ton”, or so I was
told.We then canned those apples for
apple pie filling.2 pecks turned out to
be far more than we needed, as I managed to make 12 cans (2 of which exploded
and needed to be refrigerated and not stored) and 2 apple crisps.

But the beauty of a rainy cool autumnal
day when apple, cinnamon and sugar mingle together throughout a tiny apartment
overlooking a sleepy fishing harbor reawakened something creative inside of
me.Well, that or the mixed drink we
created using the leftover apple and lemon preserving juice.Either way, perhaps I will make a
reappearance here.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

In between my freshman and sophomore
years at college, one of my roommates invited some of us to go sailing in Casco
Bay here in Maine.Another roommate and
I traveled up and we spent the next few days motoring around the bay in a
sailboat under cloudy cold skies.I
should also say that both my roommate and I were intensely sea sick for that
time as well.

Don’t get me wrong it was beautiful, but
I was at that time unaccustomed to the fact that Maine can be 55° at midday
during the summer.It also was not very
windy, which meant the “sailing” portion of our trip turned into using the
diesel engine on the boat to slowly maneuver us around island (this engine was
referred to as the ‘diesel donkey’).Thus the seasickness I had was not of the “chumming for large sport
fish” variety but a dull and constant nausea.

Angry Lobster!

There were
of course some wonderful experiences; stopping on an island and shell hunting,
sleeping all together on the tiny galley table that pushed down to become a bed,
and lastly stopping at a restaurant on the final day for some lobster
bisque.The lobster bisque was very
tasty although I could only manage to swallow a few sips, again due to that
lingering seasickness.

Now, as I understand it lobster
stew/bisque/chowder has basically 4 ingredients; broth, cream, butter,
lobster.And although this combination
is very delicious, it is not the lightest meal to consume.If the stew sits any longer than 30 seconds,
the layer of butter separates to the top making a lovely orange shimmer along
the surface of the bowl or pot.

Since this summer has been decidedly
un-Maine-like where it has actually been warm to hot even, the idea of
consuming a large bowl of cream and butter didn’t sound that appetizing.But, lobster prices are incredibly low right
now, and Joe and I try to reserve tucking into whole steamed lobsters for when
we have company, which lead me to thinking about lobster bisque.So how should one go about making a lighter
version of the traditional bisque? By adding vegetables of course! So the next
time you feel like making soup during this incredibly hot summer, may I suggest
a lovely Lobster Corn Chowder.

I had a bag of frozen lobster stock ready
to go for this dish, but if you don’t I recommend using the one in the above
recipe link.

2 1-1/4 pound lobsters

3 slices of bacon, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

1/4 c. white wine

4 cups lobster stock

1 lb. potatoes, diced (red skinned or
fingerling)

3 ears fresh corn, shucked

2/3 c. heavy cream

3 scallions, sliced

10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)

Fresh chives, chopped

Hot sauce, optional

In a large pot place 2 inches of water,
heavily salted. Place the lobsters in, cover and steam for about 7 minutes, or
until the lobsters are bright red.Remove lobsters from pot and set aside to cool.

Next, cut the corn off of the cob, and
reserve both the cobs and the kernels.

In a large stock pot over medium-high
heat, sauté bacon to render the fat, add diced onion and continue to cook for
another 5 minutes.Add diced carrots and
cook another 5 minutes.Next add the
white wine, and scrap off any brown bits on the bottom of the pan, simmer until
the wine is mostly evaporated.Add the
lobster stock and corn cobs, bring to a boil.Next add the potatoes, and the white part of the scallions, and cook for
about 10 minutes.Add the heavy cream,
bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.Toss in corn kernels.Continue
cooking for another 10 minutes.

Pull lobster meat from lobsters – knuckle
and claw meat can be left intact, but chop tail meat into bite sized
pieces.Add lobster meat to the chowder.

Just before serving add in the remaining
scallion greens.Ladle into bowls and
add chives and tomato quarters.A dash
or three of hot sauce in each bowl is a great addition right before eating – it
will enhance the creaminess!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

When my grandfather moved out of his home
in Delaware after my grandmother passed away, my family was able to take
whatever items they wanted before everything was donated to charity or
sold.I met my father at the train
station in Wilmington in a rental van we would use to bring all my loot back to
Washington D.C.

My father and I had the run of the house for the day and we went through pretty much
everything.I was on the lower end of
the priority list for taking things, so there wasn’t much left.But when you are a college student who has
just moved into an apartment the 60’s and 70’s décor, housewares, and furniture
your grandfather owns is very exciting.I chose with awe some of the golden colored wine glasses used only for
special occasions – two sizes.Which I
later found out my grandmother had collected at gas stations as part of some
kind of promotion in the early 60’s.I
nabbed the two twin beds for the new apartment, a turquoise Chinese tea set and
some cookbooks.

I had just gotten into cooking, and so I
did not understand the treasure trove of cooking references that my grandmother
had collected over the years.I figured
I would grab some that looked interesting and then leave the rest.I am sure I probably left behind a first
edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.What I now have in my possession is an early copy of the Better Homes
and Gardens Cookbook, the one with the red checks and in 3 ring binder format
as well as a first edition of the Physiology of Taste as translated by M.F.K.
Fischer (this may actually be worth a little money).But it is the Better Homes and Gardens
Cookbook that I remembered fondly, and one that I use still for basic
recipes.

My grandmother studied home economics at
Cornell.She may have taught for a few
years before having children and practicing home economy.However, unlike where you think this story is
going, my grandmother was not the “make it from scratch” home ec. teacher in
June Cleaver attire.She loved
convenience foods.A classic meal during
the holidays or any family gathering was canned ham, canned pineapple, macaroni
and cheese (this was just cooked elbow macaroni tossed with shredded cheese –
no sauce, no gooey stringy cheese – I hated macaroni and cheese for a very long
time) and canned crescent rolls.Perhaps
a salad or some frozen vegetables.

So as you can see, I did not necessarily
expect to find gastronomic treasures in my grandmother’s library of cookbooks –
although I still wonder what I would have found had I known what to look for at
the time.However that Better Homes and
Gardens cookbook did get a lot of play as a reference for cookies, roasting
temperatures of meats and so on.I
prefer that cookbook with all its jewel-toned pictures and recipes for far more
Jell-o molds than anyone could possibly need than any more recent edition.And it is to this cookbook that I turn when I
need recipes for biscuits or boiled frosting or everyday cake.

Today I am going to tell you about the
biscuits.So many people are so ardent
about biscuits that I was rather hesitant to try and make them.What if they are not fluffy, what if they
turn into hockey pucks, what if they just taste bad – all of these were very
real fears that inhibited my biscuit making endeavors.The trickiest part of it is those six words
in each biscuit recipe – do not over work the dough.How are you supposed to know!!Where is that elusive fine line between not
well mixed and over worked?Will the
dough change colors?Will they become
inedible?Will the oven explode with
terribly formed lumps of dough!The
horror!!

Biscuits are in fact not that scary.The problem I realized is that most people
don’t get tactile with the biscuits early on the in the process, and herein
lies the secret to not overworked biscuits; use your hands!After cutting in the butter, toss those two
knives or pastry blender aside and rub the pieces of butter into the flour with
your fingers.This is (1) a lot less
time consuming (2) a better way to determine the proper point at which to add
the milk and (3) is the only sure-fire way to add love into your biscuits.

Once you have the whole thing down, you
will be able to whip up biscuits at the drop of a hat.

Biscuits Supreme
As adapted from Better Homes and Gardens 1968

I have begun adding other ingredients and
flavors to my biscuits.Try adding any
kind of fresh herb, or pesto to the biscuits.Scallions and chives are wonderful for biscuits on top of chicken pot
pie or other casseroles*. The green biscuits pictured above have a parsley
pesto in them.

Combine flour, baking powder, cream of
tartar and salt in a large bowl.Add
butter and begin to cut in, when the butter pieces are reduced in size by half,
begin using your hands.Rub the pieces
of butter quickly between your fingers to break them up, and toss the flour
over the pieces.Continue until the
butter is mostly worked in, and the flour seems a bit heavier looking – there
will still be a few larger clumps of butter, but that is ok.

Next, make a well in the center of the
flour, add in the milk and the herbs or pesto at this point if using.To stir, use a fork and moving around the
inside of the well, begin pulling in flour from all sides of the bowl.Continue to stir with the fork until the
dough is all wet and very difficult to stir.

Move the dough out onto a floured board
and knead a few times to combine the dough into a cohesive ball.3-6 times should be all you need.Roll the dough out to about 1” thick and cut
into rounds.Reshape the dough into a
ball and roll out again, cutting new biscuits until there is only enough dough
for one last biscuit – this one can be hand shaped.

Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking
sheet and brush with a little milk or melted butter.Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating mid-way
through if necessary.Serve warm from
the oven!

*You can add these biscuits to anything
you plan to place in the oven to bake.For an easy chicken and biscuit recipe use the above biscuit dough and
place onto precooked chicken, veggies and a lightly thickened gravy.Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until
the biscuits are brown on top and the chicken mixture is thick and bubbling.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In college, my girlfriends and I looked
for any opportunity to dress up and have a party.When I say dress up, I’m not referring to
nice clothes; no I am referring to costumes.And in college this all equates to an excuse to drink and decorate your
dorm room.Just like Halloween but multiple
times a year.As with Halloween, the
costumes are, ahem, not the most modest.

Sophomore year, a friend of mine was
taking a course on super heroes (I know, it seems ridiculous, but I took two
classes that involved quilts).She
managed to convince her professor that she should get extra credit if she
threw, and documented, a “Super Heroes” party.He agreed.My friends all went
into crazy planning mode, with mix tapes, theme drinks, and decorations.

At the time, I found a recipe online for
“power cookies” and I figured this would be appropriate fodder for keeping
super powers up.Now, this was before I
had really honed my skills in the baking department, and needless to say these
cookies were not very tasty.Although,
if you put enough intoxicated college students in a room with cookies – even
terrible cookies – they will get eaten.

Recently, I had been thinking about those
cookies.One, because a friend mentioned
that in London it is totally acceptable to have fancy dress parties, akin to
our Super Heroes party, and I thought it would be wonderful if all of us know
at the very end of our 20’s were to do something like that.Ridiculous, but wonderful.

Second, I have seen lots of recipes and
even ads for something called breakfast cookies.In looking at the ingredients or nutritional
value of said cookies, I would not consider them acceptable for breakfast. And
I suppose that some of these cookies probably are better than a pop tart, I
still wouldn’t want to each that much sugar to start my day.

In going back to the original power
cookie recipe, I made some changes and when I tested these cookies – they were
actually pretty good.I brought them to
a regatta this weekend for the rower’s to eat, and although I didn’t see too
many get consumed while I was there, I heard good reports regarding the overall
flavor and texture.These cookies would
be a great way to start your day, or an excellent and protein filled snack;
especially if you need to keep up your super powers.

Please excuse the blurriness of this image, I took it with my phone at the regatta, while the cookies were still in the ziplock bag.

Power Cookies

As adapted from Sara Sue on
allrecipes.com

I highly recommend using dried beans
rather than canned beans for this.In
the original recipe, I used canned beans, and the cookies then tasted like
beans.The dried beans also yielded less
moisture, so I added unsweetened, spiced, applesauce.If you can’t find that, just get the organic
unsweetened kind and add spices to the batter.

In a food processor, grind the oats into
coarse flour.It is not necessary for it
all to be powder, as some larger bits will add texture to the cookies.Move the flour to a bowl and add the baking
powder, baking soda and salt, stir to combine.

Next, place the beans in the food
processor (don’t worry about cleaning it between uses), and process until they
are smooth, like a thick hummus.Move
beans into the bowl of a stand mixer.Add sugars, vanilla and applesauce and mix until well combined.

Add the oat flour mixture to stand
mixture and mix until just combined.Next, pulse the dates in the food processor to chop them into smaller
pieces, about the size of the raisins.Add the dates and raisins to the dough and mix until incorporated.

Line two baking sheets with parchment
paper.Scoop dough with a heaping table
spoon and loosely shape into a ball.Press the dough down slightly on the board, but not to flatten the
cookies.The cookies will not rise or
flatten while baking, so there is no need to space them out very much.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, rotating half-way
through, until golden on top.Allow to
cool and store in an airtight container.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Now that the weather has turned warm again, we can all spend
a little more time outside.If you are
like me, then you want to combine being outside with eating and drinking.Joe and I have developed a pretty good system
of doing just that.But when we take it
on the road – that’s when things really get good.

Please let me explain.I don’t mean that Joe and I are good at getting drunk in public
(although…), I mean that we enjoy a long afternoon of eating a little, drinking
a little and repeating.We developed
this while living in California.There
was a street festival in a little beach town that offered tickets to various
restaurants at a discounted price.For
instance the Thai restaurant would sell you a spring roll for 2 tickets, and
tickets were a dollar each.The point
was to wander around and sample food.Joe and I just took it to the next level.We would try a dish of something, then head
in to a bar to try a drink of something.Usually there were one to two drinks for every dish.The whole event was called a “Stroll and
Savor” but when you outpace the eating with imbibing it quickly becomes a
“Stagger and Savor” which is what we affectionately call it now.

We do this still on nice evenings; walk to our bustling one
block main street, sample various appetizers and happy hour specials, then
stagger our way home.How, you may ask,
does this tie into being outside – well I like to sit outside while we are at
restaurants.So there.Some people like to get sporty in the sun, I
like to get full.

The first time I ever did something like a stagger and savor
was in Germany at a wine festival.There
were booths of vendors giving away samples of wine and other vendors selling
food.After hitting two or 3 wine
vendors, my friends and I would go to a food vendor and share something like a
crepe or pastry.

Where we decided not to share was at the Brat tent.The traditional way to eat German sausage,
was one sausage on a piece of rye bread with lots of onions, sauerkraut and
mustard.If you are lucky, like we were
on this occasion, you will sit with Germans who ask you disparaging questions
about America and American culture.“No,
not all women marry for money in America. Yes, I understand that all of our
reality-dating shows are based off of that premise. No I cannot offer you any
high-profile examples of for love marriages.Yes, I suppose you are right; we are a pretty greedy lot.”

But really, I would like to focus back on the food
here.This is super easy to
prepare.The hardest part will be in
procuring the best ingredients.It is
best to enjoy this meal outside with plenty of cold beer or white wine.And if you want to stagger around afterwards,
please be my guest.

Beer Brats
As with most things in life – local is always better.If you are fortunate enough to find local
sausage, local bread, local sauerkraut and local mustard – do it! If not, try
to get the best quality of all of them.For instance the kosher sauerkraut in the refrigerated section of the
grocery store is far better than the canned version.

4-6 bratwursts, uncooked

2 large yellow onions

1 large keg can of beer, or 2 bottles of beer (dark or
medium lager is good)

4-6 slices of 100% rye bread – or dark whole grain loaf

Fresh sauerkraut

Strong whole grain mustard

Poke the sausages with the tip of a sharp knife several times;
this will help prevent the sausages from exploding while
you cook them.Place them in a large
saucepan.Cut one onion in half, and
then into slices, add to the sauce pan.Next, cut the remaining onion in half and cut off top, but leave the
root end intact.Peel off the skin, and
add the onion halves to the pot.Cover
with beer.

Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for about 10-12
minutes.Check back frequently to make
sure the beer doesn’t boil over. Meanwhile, prepare your grill for the sausages
and the onion halves.

Drain the sausages and onions from the beer.Reserve the slice onion pieces for the
sandwiches.Grill over medium-high heat
the sausages and onion halves until the sausages are golden.Set out a platter with the rye bread,
sauerkraut, boiled onions and mustard.

To serve, each person makes and open-faced sandwich using
the above ingredients; the more mustard and sauerkraut the better.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I’ve been in a slump recently.I must admit, these last few weeks have
resulted in some epic fails in the kitchen. When that happens I tend to lose my
temper and begin to throw stuff (equipment, food, etc.) around the
kitchen.I also then decide not to eat
dinner but to have multiple glasses of wine instead.

Joe really enjoys it when that happens.

Case in point, I decided to use up some
of the frozen fruit from last summer that is residing in my freezer.I had a bunch of frozen strawberries,
rhubarb, blueberries and raspberries.So
I figured that a strawberry-rhubarb pie would be very
nice for dessert on Easter.In fact, I
have a lovely recipe for strawberry-rhubarb pie that I came up with a few years
ago, that I wanted to try and make again.

I got out my bags of frozen strawberries
and rhubarb, added them to a sauce pan and began to cook them.I thought this would help release some of the
juices and extra water from being freezer-burned.Nope, I got juice.Just straight juice.The strawberries completely disappeared and I
had a saucepan full of liquid.So I
added some corn starch and let it bubble.Then I added some fresh sliced strawberries.Nothing.I had a bright pink warm fruit soup.

So then I turned my attentions to the
crust. It was perfect.Figures. The one
time I actually manage to crush the cookies fine enough and not add too much
butter, my filling is what doesn’t turn out.

Not to be deterred, I decided to add egg
yolks to the mixture hoping that when I baked it, it would turn into a custard.
I poured the watery mess into my crust, shut the oven door and proceeded to
pace around the kitchen for the next 45 minutes.I opened the oven door approximately 40
times, which I am sure helped in the cooking process.

I reported back to Joe every time I
peeked at the pie, “I think it’s gonna work!” Five minutes later, “It’s not
going to work.” Another 2 minutes later, “I think it might just work!”As you can see I was delightful on Easter
Sunday.

After the crust started to turn dark
brown, I knew I needed to take the pie out and hope for the best.It wasn’t jiggly, so I took that as a good
sign.But I fell asleep with a full
belly of Easter dinner before we could try the pie.Which I should have taken as a bad sign (for
the pie that is).

The next day, after dinner I cut into my
pretty pink mess and it slumped all over my pie server.It failed.

But it tasted ok, and I have not gotten
sick from it.So I’ll take this as not
quite an epic fail, just a normal sized fail.

Spiced Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie with
Gingersnap Crust
Don’t worry this is the original pie recipe, and if you use fresh fruit your
results will be much better.

Crust

25-30 Gingersnaps

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. flour

¼ c. butter, melted

Filling

1 c. slice rhubarb (about ¼” thick)

1 pint strawberries, sliced

½ c. sugar

½ tsp. cardamom

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

2 Tb flour

Preheat oven to 350°.Pulse the gingersnaps in a food processor to
begin to crush.Add sugar and flour,
continue pulsing. Drizzle in melted butter until the crumbs have all changed to
a darker color (moistened from the butter).

Press the crumbs firmly into a pie plate,
spreading evenly.Bake for 15 minutes,
or until the crust is fragrant and crumbs are no longer loose.Cool crust slightly.

While the crust bakes, combine rhubarb,
strawberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.Cook for about 5 minutes to release some
moisture.Add spices and remove from
heat.Toss filling with the 2
Tablespoons of flour.Pour mixture into
crust and bake for 35-40 minutes.Let
pie cool to set about 2 hours.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A friend of mine asked me if I could make
gnocchi this past winter.She told me
that her daughter had gnocchi at an Italian restaurant in New Hersey and had
really enjoyed it.She was hesitant to
buy the dehydrated shelf stable gnocchi at our local grocery store for fear
that it would not measure up to her daughter’s expectations.

I have made gnocchi before, and each time
with different results.I have poured
over many a recipe, website and magazine article.I even got a secret family recipe from a
college friend once for his grandmother’s gnocchi.But due to the mixed results I seem to
produce, I was a little hesitant to volunteer to be a gnocchi guru.

In looking over even more recipes, I
found one that included some egg, and seemed to give some step by step
instructions.The gnocchi could be
produced in a grand total of 2 hours, which is the max attention span time
limit when making food with children.There was enough “waiting” time in which small ones can leave the
kitchen and run around before coming back and getting to work.

I find that the most difficult part in
making gnocchi; is making it look good.You can gently roll the little sections of dough off the back of a fork
and create a little groove with dimples or you can simply stick your finger
into each piece and flick it to create a small hallow space.Thankfully, a friend volunteered to do that part, which is why these gnocchi look good.I lose patience after about a dozen segments
and the appearance of my gnocchi deteriorate greatly as the process wears on.

This was a wonderful project to take on
with friends, children playmates and a little booze.It make the tedious turn into a joyful
experience, and I think that is exactly the way almost every meal should be
approached. The adults here were so
enamored with the gnocchi that several very picky children expressed excitement
in trying the end result.

And for the little girl who was to
compare the homemade gnocchi with her restaurant version – she told me it was
even better than that dish she had in New Jersey.Now that is a pretty wonderful compliment.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Roast the potatoes in their skins for about
45minutes to an hour (depending on their size).They are done, when the skins appear to be a bit loose, and there are
some darker brown spots on the potatoes.Let the potatoes cool.

Peel the potatoes, removing the thicker
tough layer just under the skin.Grate
the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater, and place in a large bowl.

Add in the egg yolks, flour, nutmeg, salt
and pepper.Begin to stir this together
to fully incorporate everything.Once
the mixture becomes more stiff, use your hands to fully combine into a
dough.If the dough won’t stay together
easily when pinched, add some of the egg whites. Or if the dough seems too wet
and sticky add a bit more flour – keeping in mind you will need some flour to
roll the gnocchi out.

Once the mixture is combined, divide it
into 4 even pieces.Roll these pieces
out into a ½” diameter rope.Cut the
rope into ¾” pieces.Roll each piece off
the back of a fork, pressing slightly to make groves in the gnocchi, or simply
press your finger into each piece, roll it gently towards you and then flick it
away.

Place the gnocchi on a parchment lined baking
sheet in a single layer, and freeze for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted
water to a boil.Once the gnocchi are
frozen, drop 7-10 in the pot at a time.Once they float to the surface, skim them out, and place on a kitchen
towel lined sheet.Repeat with remaining
gnocchi until all are cooked.At this
point, you can refreeze the gnocchi to save them for later, or you can add them
to a sauce.

We baked ours in a mixture of cheese,
spinach and heavy cream for an easy gratin.